South Central Railway sends flood relief material to Kerala

Tirupati: In a humanitarian gesture, the South Central Railway (SCR) stood by the flood affected people of Kerala and sending relief material to that state. SCR General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav told the media in Tirupati on Monday that six tonnes of relief material from Guntakal was sent on Sunday and 16 tonnes of material consists of rice, dal, biscuits, blankets, clothes etc., from Tirupati on Monday.

This material would reach Thiruvananthapuram. “We have been in touch with other counterparts there and would not hesitate in extending whatever help required to assist the people of Kerala who are the worst affected,” he asserted.

Other divisions of the Zone would also send relief material to Kerala. SCR has floated the idea of giving one day salary of entire staff to help people of Kerala which has been welcomed by all quarters of employees, he added.

On Tirupati station redevelopment, the GM has reiterated that the bids for the purpose would be opened on September works would be taken up with Rs 400 crore by Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC).

Simultaneously, Tirupati West station would also be developed with another Rs 400 crore and all the maintenance would be shifted to there from main station which provides two additional platforms.

This becomes inevitable in view of the long pending demands for the introduction of new trains from the people which could not be met for want of additional platforms, GM Yadav maintained. He went around the station and inspected the amenities.

The GM has seen the people watching the replicas of Tirupati station redevelopment plan and Tiruchanur station plans placed at the circulating area of the station and interacted them. “People are amazed to see how their station is going to transform in about three years.

In the SCR zone, our main focus is on Tirupati Station only”, GM said. DRM Vijay Prathap Singh, Senior DCM Rakesh, Station Director K Satyanarayana, Station Manager M Subodh Mithra and others were present.